8. Russell Howard

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Heat magazine’s reigning Weird Crush of the Year, the boyish, boggly-eyed, Bristol-born economics graduate is the youngest comic on this list at 33. However, his bank balance is very grown-up: Howard earns £3.5m per year from prolific touring, DVD sales and hosting Russell Howard’s Good News - BBC Three's top-rating entertainment series. Next year, a world tour will see him become the first comic to play four consecutive nights at the Royal Albert Hall, before taking in the US and Australia.

Sample gag: “When Wayne Rooney threatened to leave Manchester United, fans went mad. I saw a bloke outside Old Trafford burning and selling small effigies of him. Then I realised he had a baked potato stall."